In this section:

Nano-bio-wires (or is it bio-nano-wires?)

Sometimes the best solutions come out of unlikely sources. Deep within what most folks would consider muck, scientists have found a way to trick a special kind of bacteria to make tiny wires that are made up of just amino acids. Non-toxic and manufactured using green processes, these nano-bio-wires are only 1.5 nanometers in width. That is much smaller than the best commercial nanofabrication processes can produce. These wires are 2000 times more conducting than just the protein itself leading to a wide number of potential applications. And unlike a lot of other manufacturing processes the process and the products are not toxic. The challenge is to direct the synthesis of these nano-bio-wires to create functional devices.